How Dodd-Frank Doubles Down on 'Too Big to Fail'

Two major flaws mean that the act doesn't address problems that led to the financial crisis of 2008.

By

Charles W. Calomiris And

Allan H. Meltzer

Feb. 12, 2014 6:44 p.m. ET

The Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, mandated hundreds of major regulations to control bank risk-taking, with the aim of preventing a repeat of the taxpayer bailouts of "too big to fail" financial institutions. These regulations are on top of many rules adopted after the 2008 financial crisis to make banks more secure. Yet at a Senate hearing in January, Elizabeth Warren asked a bipartisan panel of four economists (including Allan Meltzer) whether the Dodd-Frank Act would end the problem of too-big-to-fail banks. Every...